This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: New research from the University of Aberdeen and Edinburgh Napier University has found that simple changes to the timing of conservation measures on farmland could significantly improve protection for some of the U.K.'s most rapidly declining wading bird species. The study has implications for species including lapwing, oystercatcher and curlew—birds that were once a familiar sight and sound across the British countryside but whose populations have fallen sharply in recent decades.
Between 1995 and 2024, Scotland's populations declined by 63% for lapwing, 41% for oystercatcher and 62% for curlew. One cause of the decline is a widespread change in the way agricultural grasslands are managed. With fields being mowed earlier and more frequently, and high livestock densities in some areas, ground-nesting birds such as lapwing, oystercatcher and curlew can find it increasingly difficult to breed successfully because their nests and chicks are vulnerable to livestock and farm machinery.
Agri-environment schemes in the U.K. include options that provide payments to farmers to protect wildlife by delaying activities such as mowing grass or introducing livestock until later in the breeding season. However, the dates used by these schemes are generally applied uniformly across each country. The new study, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology this week, found that this "one-size-fits-all" approach does not closely match when birds breed.
Using nesting data collected from across the U.K., including datasets provided by the British Trust for Ornithology, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, researchers showed that breeding seasons vary considerably between species and across different areas. As a result, conservation measures are often mistimed, putting nests and chicks at risk even where protection measures are in place. The team developed new recommendations that tailor conservation timings according to both species and location.
Their analysis showed that relatively minor adjustments to current exclusion dates, in some cases by as little as two to three weeks, could substantially improve outcomes. The proposed changes could increase nest protection from livestock by 30% for lapwing and 57% for oystercatcher. Protection for chicks from mowing operations could increase by 35% for lapwing and 72% for oystercatcher.
Leah Gray, a postgraduate researcher at the University who led the study, said, "The main driver of wader population declines is a widespread decrease in breeding success. In recent decades, waders have simply not been able to produce enough fledglings to sustain their populations. "The drivers behind declines in breeding success are complex; waders face numerous challenges, from habitat degradation and predation to the destruction of nests and chicks by machinery and livestock.
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